Muskegon Summer Celebration
November 18th, 2008Throughout the summer months, festivals celebrating the season are numerous and they can be found in many towns around the area. It starts to become a chore of deciding on which festivals to go and spend your hard earned money. However, there are some festivals that have built up a favorable reputation among its vistitors. We have one of these festivals in our own backyard, the Muskegon Summer Celebration. It is one of the biggest festivals in the area, and it is located along the coast of Muskegon Lake. If you’re looking for a little beach action afterwards, Lake Michigan is less than five minutes away. During the Celebration’s nearly two week run, it offers something for everyone. Concerts, carnival rides, arts and craft shows, and food are just some of the events that are held, but there are many more things to do there. The Muskegon Summer Celebration is a great pick for anyone looking for an enjoyable summer festival experience.
The location of the festival is just one of the things that sets the Muskegon Summer Celebration apart from other festivals in the West Michigan area. It’s located approximately two blocks north of downtown Muskegon in Heritage Landing park. The majority of the Celebration is right on Muskegon Lake, and it’s within easy reach of Lake Michigan. Being right on the lake offers many neat experiences, it offers beautiful sunsets and a cooling breeze during the summer days. However, be sure to dress warm at night because the breeze turns from a pleasant one into a very chilly one. Since the festival is close to downtown Muskegon even more opportunities are opened up, such as the Muskegon Art Museum, and many of the local downtown restaurants. So you are not just limited to the festival grounds in order to enjoy yourself. Hotels are also located in walking distance to the fairgrounds. Parking is an issue where many summer festivals stumble, and here is where the Muskegon Summer Celebration has troubles too. Being on the lakeshore does provide for some beautiful sights, but there just isn’t that much parking space around it. If you want to park for free, prepare for a lengthy walk in order to get to Heritage Landing, and parking close to the festival grounds will cost about five dollars. However, this shouldn’t deter you from visiting the festival because the walk through downtown Muskegon is pleasant, and the park offers some gorgeous sights.
As stated above, the Muskegon Summer Celebration offers a variety of events for the entire family. The carnival is open throughout the duration of the festival, and it has many of the popular carnival rides for kids such as fun houses, slides, prize booths, and the ferris wheel. The carnival is not just for little kids though as it has rides that will thrill parents and older siblings. The Zipper is probably the one that will have every thinking twice about riding on it. Once you leave the carnival midway, there are many events that are sure to keep you and your family occupied. From Guitar Hero tournaments to a sand castle building competetion, there is something for the whole family. The Muskegon Summer Celebration also hosts an extremely large arts and crafts show on the first Saturday that occupies most of the downtown area. Here you will find a variety of items that are made from local vendors and families. Fireworks are a staple of many festivals, and the Muskegon Summer Celebration greatly delivers on this front. There are two firework shows during the festival, one during the traditional Fourth of July, and the other during the grand finale events that take place on the final day of the Celebration.
Concerts are a big part of the Muskegon Summer Celebration, and during the festival, there are bands playing constantly. There are three stages scattered about the fairgrounds, and you can normally hear music coming from them. Two of the minor stages are used for smaller bands, and they are a great place to hear new local bands. The main stage is where the headlining acts preform and they usually come out at seven o’clock. The popularity of this festival is shown through the bands that are booked to play at the Celebration. The schedulers of the concerts do a very good job of mixing up musical genres and getting the best bands to play from these genres. Some of the more famous bands that have played at the festival are Seether, Shinedown, Trapt, The Steve Miller Band, Dierks Bentley, and Sammy Hagar. The viewing at the main stage is very good, as it is in a large field that gradually slopes upward towards the lake. Near the front of the stage is the standing only section, and the rest of the field is reserved for chairs. At the back of the area are the bathrooms in the vendors. If you are near the front, though, be prepared because some of the artists are very loud. Also, be wary of taking small children because some of the bands do use harsh language, even though they are encouraged not to. Finally, for teenagers or adults looking for a harder edged crowd with mosh pits and crowd surfing, look elseware because neither are allowed and doing so will result in getting thrown out rather quickly. If you can overlook these minor quirks, the concert experience is a very enjoyable one.
I know for most people price is a large part of determining what to do during the summer months, and, for a summer festival, the Muskegon Summer Celebration is a fairly affordable experience. Sure, it will definitely cost you to ride the rides, as most take three to four tickets, and a ticket costs a dollar. However, if you choose your day right, you can save a lot of money. For example, some days are dollar days, where every ride is a dollar, and some are ten dollars to get unlimited rides throughout the day. Food is normally the most overpriced thing at a festival, and buying a lot of food at the food vendors will definitely cause your money to evaporate fast. Concerts, on the other hand, are fairly affordable for what they are, and they will definitely be cheaper than going to your average arena. Most concert tickets average around thirty dollars. Also, a pass that will allow access to every headlining concert over the course of the Celebration can be bought. According to the Muskegon Summer Celebration website, an eleven day pass for an adult can be bought for ninety nine dollars, and for a child it is forty nine dollars. If you do your research for this festival on where to save your money, you can make your trip to the Muskegon Summer Celebration an enjoyable and affordable experience.
At a summer festival, you want to feel welcomed there, and you want to feel safe. The Muskegon Summer Celebration achieves both. The atmosphere of the fairgrounds is light, and many of the officials there seem to really enjoy their jobs. They will go the extra mile to help you out, and they are friendly about doing it. The volunteers are also very helpful. However, the carnival workers themselves aren’t that knowledgeable about the rides they work, and they don’t seem too willing to help you out. For the most part, though, many of the people that put on the Summer Celebration make you feel welcomed.
Posted by hichael212